Authors for 49¢ on Amazon: John Lithgow, James Lee Burke, Melissa Fay Greene and Others

Fed up with the alpine cost of books? Amazon.com sells previously unpublished short stories, essays and other works for 49¢ through its Amazon Shorts program. The online bookseller requires that all sellers have at least one book for sale on Amazon. And some of the authors who have posted their work may surprise you, including actor John Lithgow, journalist Melissa Fay Greene and mystery novelist James Lee Burke.

But you could easily miss hearing about the program, because it isn’t listed on the home page for www.amazon.com. You have to use the search bar to look “Amazon Shorts” or go to the pull-down menu that says, “See All 41 Product Categories.” I knew nothing of the program until a writer friend persuaded me to post my “A Year in Cleveland,” a parody of A Year in Provence, there. So you may want to check this section of the Amazon site if you enjoy short fiction, nonfiction and poetry. You can read the shorts by downloading them, having them e-mailed to you, or following an HTML link.

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Wow, this is an interesting concept. Some say the short-story form has been close to death recently, but this type of thing might revive it. I never understood the idea of buying an entire e-book to read on the computer, but short-stories at a cheap price might not be such a bad idea!

Especially if you have an iPod or other music player into which you can download them. Some Amazon Shorts might be ideal for, say, a 20- or 30-minute jog or commute. I love audio books but at times have felt incredibly frustrated that I’ve had to stop at a great part because I’ve arrived at my destination.